Admission Standards and
Class Profile
MSU Law has a selective admissions process designed to identify individuals who have the potential to excel in their legal studies and the practice of law. As a result of the faculty's commitment to a broad inquiry into the role and function of law in society, MSU Law seeks to enroll students who are academically talented and who bring to the classroom a diversity of personal and professional experiences and perspectives.
The Law College's Admission Committee considers many variables in addition to the applicant's undergraduate grade-point average and score on the Law School Admission Test. Accordingly, some students who have outstanding performance records and exceptional aptitude for the study and practice of law, not reflected by their undergraduate grades and LSAT scores, are admitted at the discretion of the Faculty Admissions Committee.
| Applications Received | 3,732 |
|---|---|
| Offers of Admission | 1,189 |
| First Year Class Size | 307 |
| Credentials of First Year Students | |
| Upper Quartile LSAT | 160 |
| Median LSAT | 157 |
| Lower Quartile LSAT | 152 |
| Upper Quartile UGPA | 3.74 |
| Median UGPA | 3.54 |
| Lower Quartile UGPA | 3.22 |
| Undergraduate Institutions Represented | 155 |
| Undergraduate Majors Represented | 50 |
| States Represented | 37 |
| Nations Represented | 7 |
| Gender Distribution | |
| Female | 49% |
| Male | 51% |
| Minority Representation* | 24% |
| Composition of Class by Ethnicity | |
| African American | 27 |
| American Indian/Alaskan Native | 12 |
| Asian/Pacific Islander |
15 |
| Caucasian | 207 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 11 |
| Students Receiving Scholarship Assistance | 58% |
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* This percentage is based on responses to the optional ethnicity question on the application for admission. International students are not included in this percentage, nor are students who chose not to provide a response or those who listed their ethnicity as being "other." |
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Additional information of potential interest to applicants:
- The Admissions Committee generally focuses on the highest LSAT score when more than one LSAT score is reported.
- The application-review process at MSU Law attempts to fairly assess undergraduate academic performance in light of academic rigor, grade trends, time elapsed since enrollment as an undergraduate, and academic performance in post-baccalaureate course work.
- An applicant whose score is older than five years will not be considered for admission to MSU Law.
- The Admissions Committee typically renders an admission decision with three to five weeks after an application for admission is complete with all supporting documents. A select number of candidates who are judged to be academically competitive may be placed on a Wait List, with the Admissions Committee extending offers of admission to Wait List candidates in the spring or summer months.
- Each year the Admissions Committee invites a select number of candidates to apply for the Law College’s Legal Education Opportunity (LEO) Program (PDF), a six-week alternative admission program that allows faculty to fully assess participants' academic capabilities. Though it is the Admissions Committee that invites applicants to apply for admission to LEO, applicants to the Law College who wish to be considered for the LEO Program are welcome to express their interest via a supplemental statement that is submitted with the application for regular admission.